Sun Moon

It was a refreshing story that didn't have horrible things being done to anyone. It was life in a microcosm: Love, lose, death, family, friendship and faith.

The direction and acting were on point for the kind of movie this was. The casting was well done from the Americans to the Taiwanese. J. Chief is always a remarkable actor that, although understated, shines with truth in his facial expressions. His performance feels natural.

MacKenzie at first I wasn't sure, but her performance felt real as the character grew and grew.

Was everything perfect? No, but it is a small picture with a huge heart.

It's a Christian movie! Like all Christian stuff, it's lame and boring. The story is super predictable. The middle school aged kids behaved and being treated like little kindergarteners. Her over 20 year old sister was just mad all the time like moody teenage girls. It would have been nice if they showed more of taiwan in addition to the couple minutes of places in Taiwan. A lota conversation sounded dubbed. The plots are just very poorly done. The kid who loved to draw was taken away and there was no follow up on his story. Taiwan is much more Americanized than what the movie portrayed. It could've easily be way better than this very juvenile and uninteresting story.

"Christian Films" can be a gamble in the story department, especially the small ones. Many are sweeter than milk and honey, and they sound a bit more like a preacher's sermon than a film. This one was actually kind of a surprise. The premise is a teacher taking a job in a different country, dealing with a class of mostly unwilling high school students from a very different cultural background. No, this isn't To Sir, With Love, but it isn't that far off from being a remake.

Other than the strong similarity to a great film, there are some interesting strengths. Chief among these is the filming location in Taiwan. It is really beautiful, with some absolutely stunning shots included. Some of the directorial choices of what NOT to show were interesting as well. The movie launches very quickly into the premise with a short description of why the lead chooses to travel halfway around the world to teach a bunch of kids she can't really understand, and there are characters who are significant to the story who barely appear on screen at all. One other thing that is almost entirely missing is subtitles of the Mandarin dialog. This puts you very much in the place of the teacher who can't speak the language, but it is still presented in a way that you know exactly what is happening.

To my delight the film does also steer clear of the "Christian Film" tendency to make movies into a kind of sermon. Instead, it chooses to show people who are Christian being people with everyday problems and failings which don't get solved just because of simple faith.

The weaknesses are mostly minor. Of course, it certainly isn't original. There are a couple of sound issues as well. Since you don't get subtitles, some of the translation you do get is from smartphone translation apps, which can be a little hard to follow. More distracting is that the film rushes a bit through the ending, and in the process takes the safe route to tie everything up in a nice happy package. This is a little cliché, be not as bad as your average Hallmark movie. Overall, it is just an enjoyable film.

I'm from Taiwan, and this movie captures the breathtaking beauty of Taiwan's highlands so beautifully. Even though the storyline follows the familiar trope of love blossoming between people from different places, as a Taiwanese person, I'm genuinely delighted that the director included scenes featuring local street food stalls in Taiwan. It really struck a chord with me. Although the movie posters and trailers managed to convey the sense of romance, the reserved nature of the male lead, who didn't actively reciprocate feelings, gave the entire film a tonal shift towards a somewhat abrupt happy ending. Overall, I couldn't quite feel the emotional impact I was expecting after watching the movie. It just goes to show that experiencing something new allows us to witness the distinct cultures of the East and West. The American girl's effort to reach out to a junior high school student she hadn't previously known gradually opened up her heart and restored her confidence in life.